‘A Madea Christmas,’ 3 stars

In “A Madea Christmas,” episode eight of Tyler Perry’s perennially popular (and persistently panned) comedy franchise, the review-proof writer, director and actor serves up his own take on “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.”

Onetime model Tika Sumpter (“Gossip Girl,” “Sparkle”) stars as Lacey, a dedicated Black schoolteacher recently married to a hunky White agricultural scientist named Connor (Eric Lively). Lacey has neglected to inform her mother of their joyous union, however, because she is about the angriest Black woman in the history of that particular stereotype. So trouble isn’t far behind when the overbearing Eileen (Anna Maria Horsford) shows up unannounced at the couple’s Alabama farm with Perry’s trademark character “Aunt Madea” (naturally) in tow.

That trouble comes in the form of Larry the Cable Guy and Kathy Najimy as Connor’s parents, Buddy and Kim. It would un-PC to call them rednecks, but upon arriving in their sparkling-new Dodge Ram, Buddy announces, “We are gonna have hot possum pot pie!”

Like all of Perry’s movies, this one has a large ensemble cast serving up a sampler platter of subplots. The town of Bucktussle is in a tizzy because an evil corporation has cut off the farmers’ water supply, and budget cuts may force the cancellation of the annual Christmas Jubilee. There’s also a classroom drama with an anti-bullying message, one of several morals Perry is purveying, which also include a tired diatribe on the so-called war on Christmas.

Does all of this add up to a good movie? Of course it doesn’t. As every critic and culture vulture already knows — and as every loyal fan indignantly denies — Perry is a world-class hack. His style of humor is unapologetically crass. His dialogue is clunky, and his plot contrivances display a shocking ignorance of how the real world works. (Seriously, Alabama may not have the best education system, but it’s hard to believe the mayor of Bucktussle is dumb enough to sign a contract to take $100,000 in corporate sponsorship money without knowing the name of the corporation.)

All of this is true. But maybe, just maybe, it’s time to declare a truce in the war on Tyler Perry. He does what he does, and it obviously entertains a lot of people. And “A Madea Christmas,” for all its narrative shortcomings, also has plenty of laughs.

Many come thanks to Perry’s performance as Madea — who, for the uninitiated, is a brassy old broad with an unseemly past and an apparent inability to control what comes out of her mouth. In the opening scenes, she is gussied up in red velvet and white fur, having just been hired as the world’s worst department-store greeter, with a penchant for threatening bodily harm on the customers.

A big part of Perry’s shtick is a stream of ridiculous malapropisms, many of them ad-libbed. Madea is constantly mishearing even the simplest of words and especially names. For instance, Oliver becomes “olive oil” and Connor is “coroner.” But in this outing Madea also gets a bit of her own medicine from Buddy and Kim, who keep calling her Media and Mandela.

Indeed, Najimy and Mr. Cable Guy are seriously funny in this movie, even if most of their punch lines are anatomically based. One example: Shivering in the freezing cold, Buddy declares, “I might need to wipe with an ice scraper tonight.” As the comedian himself might say, “I don’t care who you are, that’s funny right there.”

No, there’s nothing in “A Madea Christmas” that’s going to change any minds about Perry, one way or the other. But nobody really expected that, did they? So let’s all just agree to disagree. This is supposed to be the season for peacemaking, after all.

Reach the reviewer at kerry.lengel@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4896.

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